choices and consequences
by scis ipse
Summary: AU.  Snippets from the point of view of each Dragon of a different way the world could have gone about its demise.


The caged princess of white told him later that no matter which side he had chosen Kotori would have died, the only difference being whether it was by Fuuma's own hand or his childhood friend's. That didn't make the pain of the resulting heartache any less nor did it soothe any of the overwhelming guilt that drowned him whenever he saw the tree that Kotori lay under.

He often lay awake at night now, wondering what would have happened if he had made a different choice, if Kotori would be alive and if Kamui would still be by his side, smiling like he used to when they were children. If his father might still be alive had he chosen sooner. If Kamui would be the one laying awake wondering where everything had suddenly gone so wrong.

He floated through the classes at CLAMP Campus in a dreamlike haze. Everything felt like a dream unless he was fighting with Kamui. Then it felt like a limb coming awake after being numb for a long time, a painful sensation that still felt right despite the torture of not being able to move to reach what was sitting right there in front of you.

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><p>Seishirou's first thought upon seeing Kamui seated in the throne, an extremely subdued Kanoe at his right side, was that he looked just like Subaru-kun. Then he looked past the fragility of the regal features and inside the amethyst orbs that glittered sharply with fine-edged cruelty and saw that this person was in no way like his Subaru-kun, despite the way that he seemed to almost have Subaru's features superimposed over his.<p>

Nevertheless Kamui intrigued him with his contradictory actions and words, one minute physically torturing his Twin Star while whispering sweet nothings at him, the next moment touching him gently and taunting him with words intended to slice deep into his heart and conviction. It reminded him more than a little of himself which was possibly why they got along so well. Well, that and their similar tastes in food.

The only problem he had with the damned boy was when he mocked him over being unable to perceive his Subaru-kun's true wish. As if the Sumeragi could wish anything other than Seishirou's death at his own hands after all the Sakurazukamori had taken from him.

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><p>Karen had only known the boy who had truly been Kamui briefly before the inevitable choice had been made and he had become the Kamui of the Chi no Ryu. Despite the briefness of the acquaintance her heart had ached fiercely as she had watched his transformation into the jewel eyed harbinger of destruction that differed so greatly from the boy who had watched his mother die and didn't wish to see any other people precious to him suffer a similar fate because of him.<p>

Then after the inevitable events that came from the choice she did whatever she could for Fuuma but the boy was badly broken in a horrible way that none of them could repair, not even Subaru, whose own experiences had been so painfully similar. This business of destiny and fate had forced a mere boy into a role that he could not fill without shattering into infinitesimal bits of the being whom he had been under the pressure of the millions of lives that depended on him to fight and kill the very person he had been trying to protect above all else.

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><p>Sometimes Yuuto agreed with Satsuki that emotion was unnecessary and only caused harm to humanity because of the pain and misunderstandings it brought. Now was one of those times as he watched the whole heartbreaking scene unfold in front of him: the girl who had chosen to sacrifice herself, the boy who had only thought to protect his only remaining family, and the boy who had no choice in any of what he was about to do. Kanoe had told them what would happen so that they would all be prepared but seeing it happen was a different matter entirely.<p>

Turning away from where BEAST's screen were displaying the sickening scene, he felt the urge to be sick as the eyes of the boy named Kamui grew ever more dead, flat and lifeless as destiny revealed with all the ponderousness slowness of the ticking clock the unfortunate hand that it had dealt to him. He could feel Satsuki's questioning eyes on his back as he left the room but he would make up a lie later. For now he would go back to work and try to make himself remember why this was necessary.

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><p>Arashi was not the kind of person that pondered over much on the fact that life was unfair. It was a lesson that she had learned long ago the hard way and she saw no more reason to consider anything past that. But today she lamented the cruel laws of the world and wished with all of her chilled and scarred heart that they could change or that there could be just one exception to the rule. She knew better than most what it was like to be left all alone by those you loved and she knew she could not even begin to imagine what the teenager named Fuuma was going through. He had only just regained the precious thing that he had lost, only to have everything torn from him by the inexorable progression of the events of the Final Year.<p>

Sighing heavily, she blew out the incense that she had lit and placed the smoking cylinder on the small stone marker that lay over the grave of the first of many casualties of the war that had broken out across Tokyo, pressing her hands together in a moment of prayer before getting up to return to the CLAMP Campus before Sorata got too worried and came after her.

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><p>At times Kusanagi had been highly suspicious that the Kamui knew about his friendship with Yuzuriha. But then the frail figure that held a frightening amount of power would laugh at something Yuuto had said and his focus would move away from him and he would let himself relax. However, Yuzuriha getting attacked by Kamui was something that he would rather not have risked, no matter how strong she actually was. When he heard the news that Kamui and Yuzuriha were embroiled in a battle he had left his squadron immediately, damning the consequences to hell and back as he rushed to try and keep the little miss alive.<p>

Afterwards he could never figure out whether the situation had been carefully prepared to test his loyalty to the Chi no Ryu or if Kamui had just wanted to see what he would do when Yuzuriha was in danger. Both were equally as likely and either way the amethyst eyed boy hadn't taken any form of action against him, despite his blatant disregard for the fact that he and Yuzuriha were on opposing sides of a war, and Kusanagi was not about to do anything risky for the next few months. Kamui at his best was unpredictable and at his worst was downright scary in the lightning swift changes of his mercurial moods.

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><p>If Aoki had been asked to name the one thing that he hated Kamui the most for he would have told you that he didn't hate Kamui at all. Despite the fact that Kamui had murdered his nephew in cold blood and was trying to wipe out the human race, it wasn't like he had any choice in the second matter and the first he couldn't even blame Kamui for. After all, that had always been Saiki's greatest wish from the moment that he had first set eyes on Hinoto at such a young age. Honestly, Aoki had been surprised it hadn't happened sooner with the amount of fights that Saiki got in to defend Hinoto's honor.<p>

If Aoki had named the strongest emotion he felt towards Kamui it would have been gratitude for giving him the chance to use his considerable powers to protect his family and the rest of humanity. And even if Kamui was able to hear the Wishes of others, that didn't mean that he had to fulfill them. That he chose to do so gave Aoki more than a little hope that they still had a chance to win this bloody war and bring Kamui back to his rightful place with Fuuma.

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><p>The repetitive motion that had lulled him to sleep was now the stimulus that prodded his brain into wakefulness, his mind engaging at once as he had been designed to do. Kamui's hand slipped through the fine strands of his unusual silver hair and Nataku felt a wave of warmth wash through him at the physical comfort as always happened, no matter how many times he fell asleep and then woke to his 'father' stroking his hair. Tonight however his father was staring at him with what looked like a sad expression on his face.<p>

Satsuki had attempted to explain emotions to him and teach him to see when a person felt a certain way but he still wasn't sure if he understood yet. All he knew was that looking at his daddy's face right now made him hurt a little inside in a way he didn't like. He frowned up at Kamui but the familiar-feeling face didn't even register that he had woken up even though the hand still moved on autopilot to stroke his hair. Nataku frowned even further. Daddy must be thinking of the other boy, the one who always looked like he was hurting whenever he saw Kamui. He didn't understand why Daddy kept fighting with him, especially when it made him upset like this.

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><p>Yuzuriha had grown up living among dogs and occasionally as a dog and could usually communicate with them and understand how they felt better than she could with humans. However, she still knew enough about the way the members of her own species worked that she could understand quite a bit from the observation of one situation. She marveled at how oblivious everyone else was to the obvious, especially when the obvious was staring them right in the face every time they had another confrontation with the Kamui of the Chi no Ryu.<p>

He was provoking them every time they fought, urging them on to greater heights in their abilities, cooperation, and determination. If he had truly wanted to kill them he could have easily done so long ago, regardless of whatever defenses they would have tried to muster against them. She knew she was no match for him, as their recent confrontation had broadcasted loudly and clearly. If the purpose of the Chi no Ryu was to destroy humanity by granting the wish of the Earth herself and that incomprehensible Wish was strong enough to completely overtake the fighting spirit of a boy like Kamui-kun, then why weren't they already dead?

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><p>Satsuki glowered at BEAST's main screen as yet another of the innumerable searches she had conducted in the last hours turned up even more results that were extremely unhelpful and highly irrelevant to the problem she was currently trying to unravel. Apparently, none of the files she could possibly access (which was pretty much any file, stored anywhere in the world) had any insight on why Kamui acted as he did towards his 'good' counterpart. Not that that was anything surprising: this situation had hardly occurred before.<p>

Sighing in frustration, she removed her headset and slid down the side of BEAST, startling Yuuto, who had been seated at the base of the super computer for the past three hours, waiting patiently for her to finish grappling with this particular puzzle. Unfortunately, her prized logic couldn't help her figure out anything about her enigma of a leader. It seemed that she was going to have to take a more emotional approach to the whole matter. Yuuto had met Kamui at least once before he had been changed by Fuuma's choice; he was as good a source to start gathering information from as any other despite his tendency to give blatantly evasive answers when directly questioned by anyone.

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><p>A sharp pang shot through Subaru as Seishirou's remaining eye remained blank even as the bandages unfurled from around his head, exposing his blinded eye to the world at long last. The only sign of any reaction let alone emotion from the Sakurazukamori was perhaps a tightening of the muscles around his mouth and eyes and perhaps a tighter grip on the cigarette in his hand. He breathed in deeply once to calm himself, smelling the salt from the ocean beneath the bridge and the exhaust from the cars halted because of the impending battle and destruction with a sense of detachment. If he played his cards right, today was the day that his wish would be granted. If not, then he could just wait a little while longer.<p>

However, any plans that he or Seishirou had made were shattered when Kamui appeared in the middle of the tense battlefield, apparently oblivious to the burning glare he was getting from Seishirou. He just stared back at the assassin, his expression evidently communicating something to the former veterinarian because the next moment Seishirou was inclining his head in a strangely serious manner towards Subaru and walking away in a swirl of sakura petals. The Maboroshi he had set up for the battle dissipated not a moment after and Subaru found himself on a bridge deserted but for him and a slight dark-haired figure who was now watching him with unnerving intensity. Then Kamui dipped his head towards him as well before jumping onto the highest point of the bridge in a single bound, abandoning Subaru completely to deal with the bemusement and the strange sense of relief welling up from deep inside of him.

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><p>The idyllic surroundings of his dreamscape wavered for a moment as Kakyou registered the intrusion of another powerful presence but returned to normal as he realized who it was. Seconds later, something occurred to him and he frowned; Kamui never forced his way in to his eternal dream, usually waiting for an invitation or at least an approval of his request. If he had broken his own self imposed rules, something must truly be wrong or he just needed to get away. He scanned his recent dreams for anything that could have caused this sudden shift in the other male's emotions but found nothing that particularly stood out as alarming or interesting. That meant that he would have to wait for Kamui to decide to appear to his dream vision and tell him outright the cause of his sudden mood, if there even was one.<p>

Waiting patiently, Kakyou took the time to muse on the unlikely rapport that he had struck up with the boy who had promised to kill him. Kamui had appeared to Kakyou first in his dreamgazing and later in reality, having tracked down his corporeal form by the strength of his Wish alone. Since their initial conversation and the resulting encounters in the dreamscape, accidental or planned, Kakyou had pieced together an almost complete picture of the circumstances and the possible endings to the tragedy and he found himself wondering whether events deviating from his dreams as they had was a good omen or a bad portent. Whichever of the two it was, Kotori's words had held true: the future was not yet decided.

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><p>Sorata winced in pain as his fingers probed yet another growing lump on his head and found it to be quite tender. 'Nee-chan sure hit hard for someone who looked like she could fall to pieces any moment. As he pouted without any real petulance behind it, his gaze fell on Fuuma, sitting at the corner of the dinner table. He wasn't even poking at his food in an attempt to dispel their worries but was rather sitting there in a manner reminiscent of a large stone statue whose gaze looked at you and what was behind you without really seeing it at all.<p>

Despite his assurances that everything was fine whenever someone inquired as to how he was doing, Fuuma was most definitely not fine. The bags under his eyes grew more prominent every day and it was often that the other occupants of the house could not sleep because of the frequent screams that accompanied almost every night awakening. The amount of the now omnipresent bandages that were on his body at a given time varied directly with how recently he had encountered his Twin Star and how long it had taken a fellow Seal to reach him. Sorata had seen similar eyes on people who had come to Mount Kouya to escape from situations that were slowly destroying them from the inside out. Fuuma couldn't escape.

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><p>A cloaked figure perched like a bird of prey on a randomly selected strut of the upper level supports of Tokyo Tower, consciously mimicking the position from which he had first surveyed the city he had left six years ago. The night wind whistled as Kamui laughed to himself maniacally, almost hysterically, at just how much he hated the word destiny and all that it stood for.<p>

Despite his choice, the only thing that had changed was which of them would survive the encounter tomorrow. Despite the fact that he had given his free choice to the one who would have been forced into the role he now played, one of them would still die. Kamui couldn't imagine Fuuma would care much when Kamui ended up being the one to die; the last time he'd seen him his eyes had been burning with some emotion Kamui was unaccustomed to seeing on Fuuma's face, most likely hatred for the person who had promised to protect his sister and then brutally murdered her six years later.

Again Kamui laughed, this time bitterly and at how far he'd come from the brash, naïve teenager who'd stood at this spot less than a year ago. The Kamui of then would not have been able to face death, would not have been able to torture his best friend whilst fulfilling his own shameful desires, and most of all would not have resigned himself to following the whims of fate. The Kamui of now could look his most trusted subordinate in the eye and lie to him about the uncertain future, could stab a hand through his best friend without feeling anything close to remorse, and worst, or perhaps best, of all ignore the needs of the world to bring the ending he desired to the divine comedy that all of the Dragons played leading roles in.

He swept his gaze across the crumbling skyline of Tokyo once more before swooping down into the tangled streets that were liberally sprinkled with rubble to make his way back to their base. After all, it wouldn't do to look anything less than perfect on the day when his master plan came to a climax.

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><p>For anyone who's very confused, the basic premise is that Kamui was given the choice but he chose to give that ability to choose to Fuuma and these are snippets of what happens afterwards. And these are in no way in chronological order. Too much work.<p> 


End file.
